Arcania - Preview Extract

August 5th, 2009, 15:58

World of Gothic has an extract of a recent Arcania preview in PC Games.de. The extract is long enough to qualify as a full preview article and here's a sample:

The biggest part of the Arcania game is set on a completely new island, where a fresh Nameless Hero steps into the spotlight. The young adventurer discovers that his village is destroyed by the troops of King Rhobar the third. He vows to take revenge and sets out to become strong and able to push King Rhobar from his throne. The new hero will meet several known game characters from the previous games. Among them are Diego and the wizard Xardas. In Arcania one will find its way on two islands, of which one constitutes about 90% of the game world. The game world isn’t bordered by any invisible barriers except that the NH cannot swim and will not go beyond a certain depth in the water.

DArtagnan

Originally Posted by JDR13
You mean you don't get why we wouldn't like it?

No, no - I don't understand why the devs decided to not include the ability to swim, since it was such a cool feature in both Gothics. There was no diving in in G3. And now Risen (as well as Arcania, but I'm not that interested in it)… why?

Originally Posted by Krzychu
No, no - I don't understand why the devs decided to not include the ability to swim, since it was such a cool feature in both Gothics. There was no diving in in G3. And now Risen (as well as Arcania, but I'm not that interested in it)… why?

The most likely explanation is that it takes extra work, and apparently isn't perceived to be worth it.

In my opinion, it was one of the cooler aspects of Ultima 9 - a game which did underwater exploration in a nice way.

DArtagnan

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
The most likely explanation is that it takes extra work, and apparently isn't perceived to be worth it.

That's the only logical explanation I can see, but would it really be that hard to implement it?

The reason I'm concerned about it is that no swimming means either "invisible walls" or a lack of inland water, which immediately makes the landscape a little less imaginative and a little more boring.

Originally Posted by Krzychu
That's the only logical explanation I can see, but would it really be that hard to implement it?

The reason I'm concerned about it is that no swimming means either "invisible walls" or a lack of inland water, which immediately makes the landscape a little less imaginative and a little more boring.

I'm guessing it's about the animations required for swimming/diving/floating, as well as having to design the landscape/meshes for underwater environments in the terrain.

Not that I'm an expert, but those two would require quite a bit of extra effort.

If you ask me, who's an explorer before ANYTHING else in a CRPG, it's definitely worth it - but in terms of revenue - it's definitely NOT. Why? Because we're all going to buy this game anyway, now aren't we

DArtagnan

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
If you ask me, who's an explorer before ANYTHING else in a CRPG, it's definitely worth it - but in terms of revenue - it's definitely NOT. Why? Because we're all going to buy this game anyway, now aren't we

Me? Yes. For many, as Krzychu said, it depends on whether you say Risen or Arcania.

… just saw your reply … agree - swimming might help. But really, it is part of an overall design approach that the game just doesn't seem to have.